Not many protests and initiatives end successfully for the best interests of the campaigners. At the same time I think most protests or campaigns demostrating for social change do not start in a way that ensures success. There are exceptions and one that I have been following over the past year because it not only effects my personal freedom but also restricts my abilities to undertake competitive business in Canada.

It was about a year ago the CRTC decided that big telecom giants could force their small competitors to adopt metered billing. This would have killed Big Telecom‚Äôs independent competitors, and it would have meant a more expensive and controlled Internet for all Canadians. This was concerning was most Canadiens and led to to creation of OpenMedia.ca . Now half-a-million strong, the Stop The Meter petition forced the CRTC to reconsider their plan.

This step will ensure Canada can start to catch up with the rest of the developed world when it comes to providing high speed internet. The problem still remains that there is a lack of competition in Canada that stifled technological progress over the years.

How can we help Canada become more competitive in providing Internet:

We know it‚Äôs not possible for everyone to switch to an independent provider right now, but let‚Äôs all pleasepledge to use an independent providerwhen it is possible.

If possible, switch to anindependent providerlikeTeksavvy,Distributel, orAcanacwho have supported our public engagement campaign, or other indie ISPs that you can find through the ‚ÄúMake the Switch‚Äù resource page we started here:http://openmedia.ca/switch